Govt unveils National Software Policy, aims to generate 3.5 mn jobs by 2025

The government has issued the draft of the first ever National Software Policy with an aim to increase the share of Indian software products in global markets by a 10 fold to estimated USD 148 billion and create employment opportunities for 3.5 million people by 2025.

The policy will "strive for a tenfold increase in share of the global software product market by 2025 by promoting easy access to local domestic/international market for software product" and "create 3.5 million direct and indirect jobs by 2025″, the draft said. The software product industry is estimated to be US $411 billion globally today and is expected to reach around US $1 trillion by 2025.

"However, in India, the software product industry is still in its infancy stage. The total revenue of software product industry in India is US $6.1 billion, out of which US $2 billion is from exports," the draft said. As per the estimates, the Indian software product industry accounts for 1.48% of global market and the government's mission to increase it by 10 fold will take it to US $148 billion by 2025. The IT Industry in India is around US $143 billion and is expected to grow to US $350 billion by 2025, as per industry body Nasscom.

The draft policy aims to create a conducive environment for the creation of 10,000 technology startups to develop software products that are globally competitive and thereby, generating a direct and indirect employment for 3.5 million persons. "The policy targets to achieve a goal of creation of 1,000,000 jobs by 2017, and additional 2,500,000 by 2025," the draft said.

Among various measures, the government aims to leverage the start-up India initiative under the proposed policy to ensure ease of business and to address concerns that may be specific to the software product industry through an Inter-Ministerial Coordination Group. The draft policy has provision to create a specialised talent pool of 1,000,000 professionals by 2025 conversant with nuances of software product development that can support the growth of software product industry.

-PTI